Venetian blinds, pleated shades and cellular shades have a top rail, a bottom rail and a window covering material which extends between the top rail and the bottom rail. Lift cord extend from the bottom rail, through the window covering material and into the headrail, The lift cords may pass through a cord lock or be wound on spools attached to a common axle or wound on a roller or tube within the headrail. The axle, roller or tube may be driven by a motor, by a cord loop drive or by spring motors within the headrail or the bottom rail. Those window coverings which have spring motors are commonly called cordless blinds or cordless shades.
To operate a cordless shade the operator must grasp the bottom rail and pull the bottom rail down to close the shade or push the bottom rail up to open the shade. It may take as much as ten pounds of force to pull the bottom rail down in some cordless shades. Most bottom rails have a flat front surface and a flat rear surface. The hand of an operator can easily slip from a bottom rail which is grasped by these surfaces. It is often difficult to grasp a bottom rail by extending one's fingers over the top edges of the bottom rail because slats of a Venetian blind or fabric of a pleated shade or cellular shade is stacked on the bottom rail. Attempting to do that on a pleated shade or cellular shade could soil the fabric that the operator touches.
Cylindrical bottom rails have been used and are easier to grasp than rectangular bottom rails. But cylindrical bottom rails are easily dislodged when the shade is in a fully lowered position and the bottom rail is resting on a window sill.
The art has attached one or more short handles to the bottom rail that extend outward from the front and/or rear of the bottom rail. These handles often are centered on the bottom rail and made of a clear plastic. These handles detract from the appearance and add to the cost of the bottom rails on which they are used.
Another solution that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,739,853 B2 to Judkins is a pull rod having one end pivotably attached to the front surface of the bottom rail for pulling the bottom rail down. The pull rod can be stored against the bottom rail by a clip on the bottom rail. The pull rod can detract from the appearance of the bottom rail on which it is used and adds cost to the product.
In recent years there has been much concern in the window covering industry about child safety. Most of that concern has focused on preventing a child's head and neck from becoming entangled in lift cords used to raise and lower the blind that extend from the headrail or from becoming entangled is a cord loop used to raise and lower the blind. Because cordless blinds do not have cord loop drives or lift cords that extend from the headrail, sales of cordless blinds have been increasing.
Consequently, there is a need for a bottom rail for cordless blinds that can be easily and securely grasped when raising or lowering the cordless blind.